HEBER ORGANIZES THE BIRMINGHAM CONFERENCE--MEETING OF THE APOSTLES IN
MANCHESTER PRIOR TO RETURNING TO AMERICA--ORSON HYDE PRESENT ON HIS
WAY TO PALESTINE--THE EXTENSIVE WORK OF ONE YEAR.
On his way to Manchester Heber tarried a few days at Bedford,
strengthening the Saints in that place, and adding new members to the
Church. He also visited Birmingham and there organized a conference.
One hundred and seven members were represented, and nine persons
ordained to the ministry. Elder Alfred Cordon was appointed president.
The Birmingham Conference became one of the largest and most important
conferences in the mission.
On the 6th day of April, 1841, the Apostles met as a quorum in
Manchester, for the transaction of business prior to their departure
for America. The meetings, which were open to the Saints, were held in
Carpenter's Hall. The members of the quorum present were Brigham
Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt,
Wilford Woodruff, John Taylor, Willard Richards and George A. Smith.
Orson Hyde had lately arrived from America on his way to Jerusalem,
whither he had been sent on a mission to the house of Judah.
The representation of the churches and conferences throughout the
mission being called for, it was found that thirty-three conferences
and branches were represented, aggregating a membership of five
thousand eight hundred and fourteen, with one hundred and thirty-six
Elders, three hundred and three Priests, one hundred and sixty-nine
Teachers, and sixty-eight Deacons. This enumeration did not include
some fifty members not connected with any branch, and nearly eight
hundred Saints who had emigrated to America during the year.
Several ordinations were performed, and the following business was
transacted:
"Resolved, That Manchester, Stockport, Dukinfield, Oldham, Bolton and
all the neighboring branches be organized into one conference to be
called the Manchester Conference.
"That the church in Brampton, Alston, and Carlisle be included in one
conference;
"That the churches of Liverpool, Isle of Man, Wales, viz., Overton,
Harding and Elsmere, be organized into one conference, to be called
the Liverpool Conference;
"That the Macclesfield Conference include Macclesfield, Northwich,
Middlewich, and Lostock;
"That the Edinburgh Conference include Edinburgh and vicinity, and
that the conference of Glasgow include Glasgow, Paisley, Bridge of
Weir, Johnston, and Thorny Bank.
"Resolved, that G. D. Watt preside over the Edinburgh Conference; that
Thomas Ward preside over the Clithero Conference; that Lorenzo Snow
preside over the London Conference; that J. Gaily preside over the
Macclesfield Conference; that A. Cordon preside over the Staffordshire
Conference; that J. Riley be ordained a High Priest and preside over
the Birmingham Conference; that J. McAuley preside over the Glasgow
Conference; that Thomas Richardson preside over the Gadfield Elm
Conference; that Wm. Kay preside over the Froomes Hill Conference;
that Levi Richards have the superintendence of the Garway Conference;
that P. Melling, Patriarch, continue to preside over the Preston
Conference, and that J. Sanders preside over the Brampton Conference."
The above resolutions were adopted unanimously. Elder J. Albertson was
then given a patriarchal blessing, under the hands of Father Melling,
after which he was himself ordained a Patriarch by the Apostles.
During the meeting a very richly ornamented cake, a present from New
York, from a Sister Adams to the Twelve, was exhibited and then
divided among the congregation. While the distribution was going on,
several appropriate hymns were sung, and a powerful and general
feeling of delight pervaded the meeting. Under the inspiration of the
moment, Elder Parley P. Pratt composed the following lines and handed
them to the clerk who read them to the congregation:
"When in far distant regions
As strangers we roam,
Far away from our country,
Our friends and our home;
When sinking in sorrow,
Fresh courage we'll take,
As we think on our friends,
And remember the cake."
Several discourses were then delivered, and this memorable and happy
meeting--the first and last at which so many members of the early
Twelve met together in a foreign land, came to a close.
The Apostles next issued their first general epistle to the Saints in
England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and the Isle of Man. It was a
well-worded, even eloquent document, full of wise counsel and timely
instruction. Having now set in order the affairs of the Church
throughout the mission, the Apostles, all save Orson Hyde, who was
bound for Palestine, and Parley P. Pratt, who was left to preside over
the British mission, prepared to return to America.
A great work had been accomplished by these faithful and devoted men
of God, during the past year. The mission founded by Heber C. Kimball
and his brethren in 1837, was now established upon a broad and
permanent basis, and the mighty stream of Israel's emigration from
foreign shores set in motion.